Art that expands the mind – on the works of Pamela Brandt
Pamela Brandts paintings are like psychoanalytic dreamwork – something that expands one’s daily experience. Like dreamwork, her art combines everyday and imaginative elements in a way that opens up new perspectives on the viewers own mind and worldview.
I have always thought of Brandt as an heir to the Symbolists, in that the symbolism in her work is intensely personal and her paintings open up new ways of perceiving the world for the viewer. The French art critic Albert Aurier wrote about Paul Gauguin in his famous articles in a way that also applies to Brandt:
”Symbols – that is, ideas – rise out of darkness, become animated, start living a life that is no longer our contingent and relative life but a life of dazzling light that is the essential life, the life of art, the life of being.”
Auries idea of symbols as real and essential life resembles my own experience of Brandts work. Something ordinary and everyday, such as a button, a die, a jug or a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, appears in a way that opens our eyes to new ways of thinking and experiencing the world.
The Finnish art historian Altti Kuusamo wrote in 2012 about Pamela Brandt’s paintings:
”Brandt’s figurative and non-figurative modes of representation are intertwined, yet together they create a cerebral space between a mismatched image and idea. … Still, whatever we see happening is infused with synesthetic muteness, a vague inkling of movement of timelessness, a sense of lingering presence. The banal confronts the mystery of the commonplace – slowly, phantom-like.”
Kuusamo’s idea of the phantom-like slowness of Brandt’s paintings is apt, because in my experience the artist’s works slowly and subtly cause a shift in one’s thinking and perception when viewed. Brandts works evoke restlessness and curiosity, which shake us awake. Suddenly, we perceive our own lives and experiences in a way that resembles a resurrection or awakening.
A slow awakening is a phrase that describes the effect of Brandts work. She demonstrates how a work of art is master of time, as art can both slow down and accelerate the passage of time. The work captures our attention and gives us more time, or even a sense of eternity. On the other hand, works of art can captivate us so completely that we lose ourselves in them and time seems to cease to exist. In the same way, art enables us to see things in new and alternative ways, of which Brandt is a compelling example.
Pamela Brandt creates new connections in a way that brings to mind Charles Baudelaires lines from Correspondences:
“Like long echoes that mingle in the distance
In a profound tenebrous unity,
Vast as the night and vast as light,
Perfumes, sounds, and colors respond to one another.”
In Brandts works, representations blend with associations, surfaces become spaces, and ideas become experiences. The world is created over and over again.
FT Juha-Heikki Tihinen 2026